Pockets of Sweetness

Friday Bricolage

Jan 31, 2025

Hello, My Friend!

Greetings from my heart to yours! This week’s theme, Pockets of Sweetness, is inspired by a film I watched last night, among other things. To set the tone, allow me to treat you with this picture of a beautiful, Chicago sunset taken from the train platform this past week. My daughter and I spontaneously decided to go see the city at night so I met my her classes and we rode to our adventure. This bit of gorgeousness was a great way to start the week!

Fullerton Sky | Kymberlee della Luce | January 27, 2025

Sweetness

After some literal and figurative weeks of intense darkness and cold, I’m ready for some sweetness so I’ve decided to both hunt for and create it!

Tomorrow is the first day of February and with it comes the promise of new life, new love, and moments of joy. It’s also Imbolc, a pagan holiday that invites us to shed the stagnant energies of the past and embrace new beginnings. As nature prepares to burst forth with life, so can we! I’ll be spending some time setting intentions, envisioning my desires, and planting the seeds of my dreams then taking time to nurture them with each day of burgeoning light. I’ll also be planting some literal seeds whose growth I’ll be sharing in the weeks ahead so stay tuned (and join me if you like).

I’ll be adding the seedlings to our current winter altar which includes creative tools, heart-shaped rocks from Lake Michigan, candles and the lovely branches shown below. I cannot more highly recommend bringing a flowering branch into your home in the dark, cold of winter and watching it slowly come into full bloom.

I set some intentions at the beginning of the year to engage more fully in things that brings me joy and that are good for me like daily walks, practicing French, and more. I’ve really been enjoying restoring my daily writing practice by using prompts from The Magic Words by Joseph Fasano. It’s sort of like Mad Libs for poetry. Recommended! Here’s today’s poem:

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MORNING POEM

I hear the birds in the neighborhood.

I smell the incense burning.

I feel my heart opening like a rose.

Soon, I will start the work of creating.

But first, let me sigh.

First, let me hear my voice as it whispers, 

“On the last day of the world, I would wake and love, love, love.”

Lest you think I am ignoring current events, I assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. I am aware of the reality that is being foisted on us and I’m aware of other possibilities. I’m choosing to focus on pockets of sweetness because it’s within my reach and because it feels good.

I choose to act with kindness each day as I always have.

I choose to smile at strangers and hold doors open for people in various ways.

I choose to ignore people who treat me hatefully and have compassion for the pain that informs their actions.

I choose to keep love in my heart while also keeping my wits about me and polish up my existential courage.

I choose to engage in and advocate for freedom of expression.

I choose to forgive mistakes and focus on blessings.

Here’s a quote from Fasano’s book and another poem I wrote that speaks to this:

Mistakes “Freedom is not worth having,” Mahatma Gandhi once reflected, “if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” Something that is perfect is unchanging, unmoving, even without a need to speak. That sounds like the opposite of life. To be alive is to change, to move, to have a voice that tries to right wrongs, to reconcile differences, even to make ruin beautiful. This prompt helps us find the blessing in every mistake.

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MISTAKE POEM

This is how a country collapses, by losing its soul.

This is how a heart breaks, by stumbling on conflict.

This is how a family heals, by falling in sync.

I am what I am, a messy artist that loses, that falls, that stumbles, and then that wins.

Look at me. Look at my love!

This is how an artist wins.

Film Recommendation

This week’s film recommendation, The Station Agent, features an artist that loses, that falls, and that stumbles. She is an older woman—played exquisitely by Patricia Clarkson—who has been through it and who befriends the new station agent in town, played by Peter Dinklage, and an affable food vendor played by Bobby Cannavale.

This film, directed by Tom McCarthy, is a soft and gentle story about friendship and the shared humanity that connects us. It gave me hope without being saccharin and made me laugh and cry. The best movies do both.

Here’s the trailer. You can watch this for free on Kanopy at the moment. Enjoy!